It’s that exciting time of year again… time to begin our Album of the Year Awards process! 2025 has given us a plethora of new music to discover – just check out these stats:

Highlighting and honouring the highest quality DSD music is what we do at NativeDSD. And there is no better way than to let you, our trusted music-loving audiophiles, vote on the top albums from the last year.

How do we select the nominees for our anticipated Albums of the Year Awards? As has been our tradition, NativeDSD has asked Senior Reviewer Bill Dodd and Technical Advisor Brian Moura to carefully review the year’s DSD releases and bring our listeners their nominations in several musical categories.

This is a great way to applaud and reward the excellent music and performances that the music labels and artists have brought us this year. And it also is a guide for our listeners to see what we have selected as the best DSD music in 2025.

Nominations Part 1 features the Classical Music selections from 2025, chosen with great deliberation by Bill Dodd.

All nominated albums are currently 25% off until winners are announced.

Solo Vocal

Magdalena Kozena & Mitsuko Uchida
Pentatone – PTC5187129

Listen and fall in love as two world-class artists make this album of French art songs by Debussy and Messiaen into something magical.

Ian Bostridge & Sakia Giorgini
Pentatone – PTC5187162

Ian Bostridge is fine in his sensitive performances of these Schumann songs. He is joined by the excellent Sakia Giorgini, whose Debussy I have enjoyed. Together, they make beautiful music.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Martín & Siobhan Stagg
MSO – MSO001D

I love Siobhan Stagg’s performance. Her voice is clear, youthfully magical, and with perfect vibrato. Jamie Martin keeps the orchestra is well balanced with her.

Orchestral

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra & Thomas Netopil
Pentatone – PTC5187221

Wonderful, idiomatic performances from the Czech Philharmonic. The Rhapsodies are full of energy and color, and Legends is given a sensitive, chamber-like performance that is perfect. You don’t have to look any further!

London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Antonio Pappano
LSO Live – LSO0392D

Of all the modern recordings on Vaughan Williams’ Fifth, this is the one that has captured my heart. Pappano’s interpretation of the Ninth makes it glow as a sort of summation of Vaughan Williams’ work.

London Symphony Orchestra & Gianandrea Noseda
LSO Live – LSO0390D

Noseda captures the battle between celebration and grief in this symphony, written just two years after the end of WWII. This is my top recommendation for the 6^th these days.

Solo Instrumental

Yulianna Avdeeva
Pentatone – PTC51874801

Avdeeva brings a fresh, lighter approach that I enjoy on these pieces. She is a truly a marvel for her clarity and technical brilliance.

Elia Cecino
IBS Classical – IBS42025

This young Italian pianist shows a real connection to Brahms. Some say his playing gives a narrative feeling to the “story” of these pieces.

Laszlo Borbely
Hunnia Records – HRES2507

Laszlo Borbely has virtuosity, superb technique, and the ability to show how Chopin’s works can sound improvisational. Great recording quality, too!

Opera / Vocal Drama

Various Soloists, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
LSO Live – LSO08971D

Sir Simon and the LSO are magnificent, and so are the soloists, particularly Tenor Ales Bricein. Rattle brings out more of the romantic qualities, but there’s still plenty of fire. A great interpretation of this Janacek opera!

Karina Canellakis, Members of Radio Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Rinat Shaham, Gabor Bretz
PENTATONE – PTC5187225

Karina Canellakis brings a compelling performance of Bluebeard. It’s great drama and great music– something not always the case. The recording is excellent.

Reinoud van Mechelen, A Nocte Temporis
Alpha Classics – ALPHA1114

Tenor Reinoud van Mechelen is well known as a specialist in French Baroque, but he is outstanding in this program of Mozart aria. His warm, bright tenor seems perfect. He also conducts the A Nocte Temporis ensemble, which he co-founded.  Excellent Mozart!

Choral

Marek Janowski, Dresdner Philharmonie, Various Soloists
PENTATONE – PTC5187222

There’s much to love here: The energy of a live performance, superb singers and orchestra, and a dialing-down of sentimentality. This is a large scale work that moves from great sadness to hope.

Kammerorchester Basel, Rene Jacobs, Zurcher Sing-Akademie
Alpha Classics – ALPHA1172

Rene Jacobs, celebrated for his deep historical research and interpretations of Mozart and Handel, brings a wealth of depth to Haydn’s Missa Cellensis. If you are looking for a giant orchestra and choir, this may not be for you. But if you want clarity and a performance that is as close to Haydn’s original intentions, you should listen to this one.

Soloists, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, F. Murray Abraham, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck
Reference Recordings – FR761

Not just Mozart’s Requiem, but a major presentation that Manfred Honeck created. The results are amazing. The added texts and music make this an event to remember.

Chamber

Andre Groen, Angelo Verploegen. Anna Fedorova, Claudio Constantini, Nicholas Schwartz
Channel Classics – CCS47525

Here are five great classical musicians, having a great time playing music they love. And you can’t beat that!

Brecon Baroque, Rachel Podger
Channel Classics – CCS48525

I think it could be argued that every album made by Rachel Podger over the years could easily have been nominated for Album of the Year. This one, Just Biber, has been especially praised for Podger’s virtuoso performances of Biber’s difficult to play 17^th Century music. But there’s more than just virtuosity, there’s excitement and love!

Concerto Scirocco & Giulia Genini
Arcana – A565

Joyful! Light and joyful early Italian Baroque music. Giulia Genini and her Concerto Scirocco make this music dance! Happily recommended!

Concertos / Orchestral with Soloist

Suzana Bartal, Saarlandische Staatsorchestra, Sebastien Rouland
Channel Classics – CCS47825

Our colleague, Rush Paul says it very well: “The Grieg and Saint-Saens Piano Concertos my be well-trod musical ground, but it is always a treat to hear them played in such lively, fresh, and dynamic readings as brought to us here by French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal in collaboration with conductor Sébastien Rouland and the Saarlandische Staatsorchestra. If these don’t bring you upright in your seat and enjoying every moment, I’m not sure what might serve you better.”

Isabel Rubio, Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon, Josu De Solaun
IBS Classical – IBS162024

While there is no loss to the romantic nature of this work, there is less of the “romantic” sweetness that some performers display. This is an “iron hand in this velvet glove!” The recording quality is excellent.

Boris Andrianov, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Liss
Fuga Libera – FUG834

The most amazing orchestra you probably never heard of– The Ural Philharmonic as led by Dmitry Liss is excellent. Cellist Boris Andrianov makes Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme feel like the pinnacle of the composer’s works. Tchaikovsky’s Suite no.3 is the best I’ve heard. If you love Tchaikovsky, I think this will really please you.

Sonatas & Duos

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Martin Helmchen
Alpha Classics – ALPHA827

Suite Italenne from Stravinsky; Sonatas from Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmanioff, Schnittke, and Weinberg are beautifully performed by Hecker (cello) and Helmchen (Piano). This is an album to love!

Kwan Yi & Rachel Yonan
Sono Luminus – DSL92283

These works all work together to express emotions that words alone simply can’t. This is haunting, beautiful music, beautifully played and recorded– and highly recommended.

Marta Abraham & Laszlo Borbely
Hunnia Records – HRES2426

From our colleague, Rush Paul: “This album is simply stunning. If you like the music of Bela Bartók, I think you will love this album. If you’re not sure you care for his music, or you’ve really not explored his music, you need to listen to these performances. I think you will become a convert.”

The NativeDSD Team would like to thank Bill Dodd and Brian Moura for having spent an eternity listening to all of the albums released in 2025, and for selecting the albums they believe you should not miss.